WWF Romania and Râșnov City Hall have launched a partnership to prevent conflicts between people and bears near the Carpathian town, according to a press release. The measures could make Râșnov Romania’s second Bear Smart community after Băile Tușnad.
The city has already installed electric fences around vulnerable areas and taken steps to limit bears’ access to food sources. This week, the authorities added ten bear-resistant street bins and five larger containers equipped with unloading systems.
The containers were placed in vulnerable areas identified through an analysis conducted by WWF Romania. They are intended to prevent bears from accessing waste, one of the factors that repeatedly attracts the animals into populated areas, the non-profit organization said.
“Experience from communities that have invested in prevention shows us that lasting solutions to human-bear conflicts do not begin with intervention, but with removing the causes that attract animals into towns,” stated Cristian-Remus Papp, WWF Romania’s wildlife department coordinator.
“Our common objective is to build a Bear Smart community that can become an example of good practice for the entire region.”
The partnership also includes plans for an AI-based monitoring and prevention system. Video cameras capable of automatically identifying wildlife species will send real-time alerts, allowing the authorities to respond more quickly when bears approach the town.
According to WWF, the system will continuously monitor sensitive areas and support the use of nonlethal methods to drive bears away. Data collected by the cameras will also be used to improve decisions on managing their presence near the community.
“Bears are part of Râșnov’s landscape, but their place is in the forest, not on our streets,” mayor Horia Mihai Motrescu said. “That is why we have chosen to address the cause, not just the effects.”
“After the electric fences, we have now installed the first bear-resistant containers, and the smart-camera monitoring system will follow,” he added.
The municipality and WWF said the approach would prioritize prevention and early intervention, with the goal of improving safety for residents and tourists while reducing the need for extreme measures against animals.
Romania is home to a large population of bears. According to preliminary results from an April 2025 study by the Ministry of Environment, the country’s brown bear population is estimated at between 10,419 and 12,770 animals.
Bear sightings are not uncommon in mountain areas, including popular destinations such as the Transfăgărășan road, especially as the animals have become used to tourists giving them food, despite the authorities’ repeated calls to avoid any contact with the wild animals and the risk of being fined for doing so. This sometimes resulted in tourists being injured or even killed by the bears they stopped to photograph or feed.
Plus, hungry wild animals leave the forests to search for food in nearby mountain towns, often drawn by waste or orchards – which sometimes leads to human-bear conflicts.
Environmental groups have repeatedly argued that hunting alone is not a sufficient solution to lower the number of bear attacks or sustainably manage the population.
In early October this year, president Nicuşor Dan promulgated the law that allows immediate intervention against bears that threaten people or property. The same law doubled the number of bears shot for 2026 and 2027, from almost 500 to almost 1,000 specimens for both prevention and intervention.
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